Also, just a reminder that we are also covering British glam rockers The Darkness on this darkened night. The band is on their "Blast of Our Kind" tour, in support of their Last of Our Kind album, and presented by The Noise. 7pm/$30... Additional details at varsitytheater.org and weheartmusic.com.

Teen Daze is back with his latest Morning World, available now on Paper Bag Records. Of course, we already mentioned the tour and album in July 2015, and previously saw him in 2012. He also recently launched his drip.com account (drip.com is a subscription service where you can get exclusive content, etc.)

Since we already talked about Teen Daze, let's take a look at the opener: Brooklyn's Heavenly Beat (aka John Felix Peña). Heavenly Beat's latest Designer is the fourth LP since 2011.

Youth Lagoon followed Majical Cloudz on the stage, and vocalist Trevor Powers changed up the visuals from the minimalist look that Majical Cloudz had. With a lit back drop and lights flashing and moving about …

We previously mentioned Toronto's Moon King and hinted about their highly anticipated LP in 2015 (with no cover artwork). Now that it is 2015, I can let you know more details about the record
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The Doldrums / Moon King tour just stopped by the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis last night. The two Canadian bands will end their North American tour at Chicago's Empty Bottle tonight.

Tender Meat

Opening up at the 7th Street Entry show, a little later than advertised, was local duo Tender Meat. The instrumental electro band sounded something like Bentley Rhythm Ace, complete with a live drummer. Tender Meat's latest album Hello World is out now via Totally Gross National Product.

Doldrums

Doldrums lead by Airick Woodhead, shared his drummer and extra keyboardist from Moon Duo. Keys were handled by Daniel, who also is Airick's brother and lead singer of Moon Duo.

Airick mentioned this was "our third or fourth time here" and thanked anyone who last saw them. They were incredibly happy to get any support for independent artists.

Since the tour was in support of their latest, The Air Conditioned Nightmare, their 40-min set featured some tracks from the new album, including "Funeral For Lightning", "HOTFOOT", "Video Hostage" and their set closer "Closer 2 U" with no encore.

Duo Moon King (Daniel Benjamin & Maddy Wilde) had a full band on this tour. This was their third time in Minneapolis, previously opened for Majical Cloudz in 2013 and Gardens & Villa in 2012.

The majority of their setlist were songs from their latest release Secret Life, including the title track, "Impossible", and set closer "Roswell".

Highlight of their 40-min set was "Medicine", a song that, Daniel said, "we don't usually play it live..." implying that last night's show was special for them.

Secret Life is available in a variety of formats, including limited edition clear vinyl and compact discs (all releases comes with unlimited Bandcamp streaming and digital download).

The Doldrums and Moon King's final stop on their US tour is tonight at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, Illinois.

Canadian band Doldrums (lead by Airick Woodhead) should not to be confused with American 90s band Doldrums or the Ariel Pink album. They are on tour in support of their latest The Air Conditioned Nightmare; available now on Sub Pop.
The weird album title was taken by Henry Miller's 1945 collection of essays, after his return to the US after ten years as an expatriate.

Toronto duo Moon King will be opening the show, they are on tour of their debut album Secret Life (which came out two weeks ago).
We've been talking about Moon King for a while now, including their recent tour with Alvvays.

Before I get to Tyrone Wells, I'll have to tell you that his audience, based on that night, they seem to all be college girls. If you don't believe me, just look at the picture that's used on his website
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Speaking of 'moon', local duo Moon and Pollution (singer Molly Dean and producer Graham O'Brien) will be opening up for New York's Mas Ysa (aka Thomas Arsenault) and headliner Young Fathers from Scotland.

I'm told that this show will likely sell out, so grab your ticket now. The Edinburgh-based rock/pop group, who won the Mercury Prize for their album Dead in 2014, is in the USA in support of their latest album White Men Are Black Men Too on Big Dada.

Meanwhile, over at the Cedar, Tyrone Wells is back in the Twin Cities. I previously saw his him in 2010. Due to other commitments, I cannot cover his set or Dominic Balli. However, I have agreed to see singer/songwriter Emily Hearn, currently on tour in support of her latest Hourglass.

Local-ish Gear Daddies is celebrating their 25th Anniversary with three First Avenue shows: from May 8th to May 10th.

The final date (May 10th) will feature White Iron Band.

May 9th has The Billy's while May 8th with Six Mile Grove.

Gear Daddies writes:

Final plans are coming together for the 25th Anniversary shows on May 8th, May 9th and May 10th. While the Friday and Saturday shows are currently sold out, there are still a very limited number of tickets that remain for the Sunday, May 10th show with special guests White Iron Band. Everyone in attendance will receive an 11x17 poster of the Billy's Live Bait promo photo, with the 25th Anniversary logo.... Thanks for hanging with us for 25 years! See you soon!

25th Anniversary Show dates:

May 08 25th Anniversary Show First Avenue
May 09 25th Anniversary Show First Avenue
May 10 25th Anniversary Show First Avenue

Saturday, 24 January 2015

Kaki King is a five-foot guitar virtuoso from Georgia, and she has absolutely electric fingers. If you've listened to Tegan & Sara's 'The Con' or Foo Fighter's 'Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners' (which, as a side note
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It's been a long time since we talked about Kaki King. She recently had a successful Kickstarter project funded to bring her "The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body" project. The show is part light show, part projections (created by Glowing Pictures) and all synchronized to Kaki King's guitar playing. The special show is coming to The Cedar in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday February 12.

Toronto-based Moon King recently announced being signed to Last Gang Records, home to some of Canada's greatest musical exports including Crystal Castles, Death From Above 1979, Ryan Hemsworth and more.
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“We’ve never played here before,” Alvvays lead singer and guitarist Molly Rankin said as the band took to the stage. After jokingly testing the crowd’s knowledge of Nova Scotia (where most members are originally from) she thanked fans for stopping
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We previously mentioned Toronto's Moon King and hinted about their highly anticipated LP in 2015 (with no cover artwork). Now that it is 2015, I can let you know more details about the record: it is called Secret Life, and it is coming out April 15th, 2015, on Last Gang Records.

We previously mentioned Alvvays nearly died driving to Minnesota: "As [lead singer and guitarist Molly] Rankin explained, on their way to St. Paul, the van the band was driving went into a tailspin on the highway and slid off the road. Thankfully, a kind stranger pulled over to help drag the van out of a ditch. It was a dire situation, but Rankin found humor in it, revealing the noises her bandmates were making as the van spun out of control. “It’s devastating to hear how you sound right before you die.” "

SXSW 2015 is taking place March 17–22, 2015. We love this time of the year, as many bands heading down to Austin will likely stop in Minneapolis before or after the event. Keep up with more SXSW coverage
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Austin's East Cameron Folkcore has been confirmed for several SXSW 2015 shows. They'll likely be playing tracks from their third record, Kingdom of Fear. In fact, after SXSW, you can hear the entire record perform live in its entirety at The Salvage Vanguard Theater. The record comes out April 5th, 2015 (but I'm assuming you can probably purchase it early if you see them live).

A full list of tour dates can be found below with plenty of additional US tour dates to be added in April.

King Mono (Little Shalimar and Jeremy Wilms) is a funk, RnB, house, and 70s rock duo. Their debut album, Bump in the Night, will be released March 31st, 2015 on Tummy Touch and features vocals from RnB breakout singer Jesse Boykins III.

Multi award-winning, British blues rock band King King will release their third studio album, Reaching For The Light in the UK on Tuesday May 5th, 2015.

Look for the band to start their Nationwide UK Tour on February 19th at The Brewery Arts Centre Kendal.
Due to phenomenal demand, an album launch show has been added at The London Jazz Cafe on Wednesday May 6th.

Turf Club with all the feel-good vibes coming out of the speakers and off the patrons’ faces - all thanks to the frenzied gyrations of Baltimore natives Sun Club and the easy-going pop of Toronto quintet Alvvays.
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Toronto-based Moon King recently announced being signed to Last Gang Records, home to some of Canada's greatest musical exports including Crystal Castles, Death From Above 1979, Ryan Hemsworth and more.

The duo (Daniel Benjamin and Maddy Wilde) will be releasing their highly anticipated debut in 2015 with details of the new LP to be released very soon.... In the meantime, they'll be hitting the road with Alvvays as part of their world tour. Emily, who recently caught the band in St Paul, had this to report, "Although the band only has one album, you couldn’t ask for better surf-pop sweetness. Tracks like “Next of Kin” and “Adult Diversion” have the jangly elements of the Smiths and REM, especially in the bright, echo-y notes of lead guitarist Alec O’Hanley.".

Jodie Marie and Samuel Taylor are Taylor & Marie, two people who bonded over their love for Johnny Cash & June Carter, Bob Dylan & Joan Baez... and apparently Credence Clearwater Revival, with their cover of "Bad Moon Rising".

Samuel talked about the song, "When we recorded it in the studio it instantly felt right, like we had found our sound. The harmonica, the banjo, the voices, something really good started to happen...."

"Bad Moon Rising" is taken from their debut EP Tilt The Moon, available now.

The duo recently wrapped up their tour with Nerina Pallot, but will be doing some small, intimate Christmas shows to close out the year.

Israel's Allan Moon (by the way of Canada) released his second studio Children of the Call album in April 6, 2014, with the help of Israel's top indie musicians, including Kutiman (Thru You), members of Balkan Beat Box, and Boom Pam.

From my understanding, I think he recently employed various people $5 per job via Fiverr.com to compile their clips for his latest music video.

We previously mentioned Los Angeles' Venus and The Moon earlier this October 2014, when they went on tour with Cat Power in the UK.

The duo (Rain Phoenix and Frally Hynes) is back with a new video for "Hungry Ghost", available to stream on NYLON.com.
In celebration of the video release, the band will be kicking off a dance contest inspired by the “Hungry Ghost” video. Fans will need to post their own, one shot videos (minimum of 15 seconds) dancing to the track on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #VATMHungryGhost.

Los Angeles' Moons of Mars will be releasing a 4 tracks of the EP called Free to Fly in January 2015.

The cover artwork was not provided to me.... but the image I'm using is at least timely: sibling duo (brothers Giovan & Mario Polanco) will be on We Found New Music on KX 93.5 FM for an interview and live performance Friday night 12/19 at 11pm.

We've previously mentioned Moon Duoin 2012, so this is just a brief mention that the psychedelic duo (Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada) will be releasing their third full-length LP called Shadow of the Sun.

Shadow of the Sun is available for pre-order now. iTunes' pre-orders come with an instant download of lead single, "Animal."

Oakland's The Soft Moon (the stagename for Luis Vasquez) is back with a third album Deeper, due out March 31st, 2015, on Captured Tracks. The record was a result of Vasquez moving to Venice, Italy, in 2013 and finding himself in 'deep' reflection. The upcoming album is described as Vasquez's most emotional record yet.

Born out of the amicable ashes of sibling project Pacific Air (who we previously wrote about), Los Angeles' Mating Ritual have recently released a funky new electro track called "Moonlight", available on Soundcloud.

Look for Mating Ritual's live debut this January 12th, 2015 at Bardot as part of School Night.